1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exposure substrates such as reticles, masks, wafers or the like used for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a liquid crystal substrate manufacturing apparatus or the like, a method and an apparatus for reading information thereof, an exposure apparatus, and a semiconductor device manufactured using these.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-54816, and the description of the application is incorporated herein as a part of this application.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photolithography process which is a part of a semiconductor manufacturing process or a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, an exposure substrate such as a reticle, a mask, a wafer or the like is used for each process, and a circuit pattern formed on the reticle is printed to the exposure substrate, and the substrate is subjected to the next process. However, usually patterns used for the photolithography process are different from each other.
Recently, information on an original plate for exposure such as a reticle, mask or the like, that is, information related to a reticle name or a pattern formed thereon, is formed on the original plate as a recognition mark such as a bar code or the like, and identification is made by reading the information automatically.
The recognition mark is divided into a plurality of blocks (segments) depending upon the quantity of necessary information (number of characters, etc.), and the blocks are arranged on the original plate. Therefore, in order to read the recognition mark, it is necessary to input a reader, information related to how many segments are used to constitute the bar code, before performing readout. For this reason, a switch mechanism is conventionally provided in the reader for setting the number of segments.
If the number of segments is fixed according to the required maximum quantity of information (number of characters, etc.) for all original plates, the above described operation for setting the number of segments can be omitted. In this case, however, not only is practical use of effective area on the original plate interfered with, but also the read time increases, since even an unnecessary segment filled with a blank mark or the like is read. Also, when the maximum information quantity increases, it will become difficult to deal with the information.
Accordingly, it is essential that a bar code constituted of an optional number of segments can be read. However, in the case where as described above, a switch mechanism is provided in the reader as a means for achieving this, since the number of segments changes depending upon an original plate, an operator must perform the switching operation. In this case, if the operator performs improper setting, for example, if the operator sets the number of segments smaller than the actual number, all of the segments to be read cannot be read. Therefore, erroneous information is informed to a host computer, and as a result, considerable damage may be caused in the production of an integrated circuit or the like.
In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an exposure substrate having a mark such as a bar code divided into an optional number of segments, and this mark being automatically readable without manually setting the number of segments. Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for reading the information on the exposure substrate, an exposure apparatus, and a semiconductor device manufactured using these.
To solve the above described problems, an exposure substrate according to a first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that at least one mark representing information related to the exposure substrate is provided on a part of the exposure substrate, and at least one of the marks contains information related to a mark readout operation.
An exposure substrate according to a second aspect is characterized by including a mask on which an original picture of a pattern for exposure is drawn.
An exposure substrate according to a third aspect is characterized in that the information related to the mark readout operation includes information related to whether or not there is a mark to be read next.
An exposure substrate according to a fourth aspect is characterized in that the information related to whether or not there is a mark to be read next includes at least one of; the number, the position, the order of reading of said marks, and an end of information to be read.
An exposure substrate according to a fifth aspect is characterized in that the mark includes a bar code.
An exposure substrate according to a sixth aspect is characterized in that the information related to the readout operation is represented by a symbol of symbols expressed by the bar code, which is different from symbols expressing the information related to the substrate.
A seventh aspect is a method of reading information related to an exposure substrate by reading at least one mark provided on the exposure substrate, and is characterized in comprising: a detection step for detecting information contained in at least one of the marks and related to a mark readout operation; and a step for judging whether a next mark is to be read or not, based on a detection result of the detection step.
A method of reading information according to an eighth aspect is characterized in that the exposure substrate includes a mask on which an original picture of an exposure pattern is drawn.
A method of reading information according to a ninth aspect is characterized in that the information related to the mark readout operation which is detected in the detection step includes information related to whether or not there is a mark to be read next.
A method of reading information according to a tenth aspect is characterized in that the mark includes a bar code.
An eleventh aspect is an apparatus for reading information related to an exposure substrate by reading at least one mark provided on the exposure substrate, and is characterized by comprising: a detector for detecting information contained in at least one of the marks and related to a mark readout operation; and a control system connected to the detector for judging whether a next mark is to be read or not, based on a detection result of the detector.
A twelfth aspect is an exposure apparatus for exposing an object to be exposed by projecting an image of a mask pattern onto the object to be exposed, and is characterized in that the exposure apparatus comprises: a carrier apparatus for transporting the mask or the object to be exposed onto a stage; and a reader for reading information related to the mask or the object to be exposed, by reading at least one mark provided on the mask or the object to be exposed; and the information reader comprises; a detector for detecting information contained in at least one of the marks and related to a mark readout operation, and a control system connected to the detector for judging whether a next mark is to be read or not, based on a detection result of the detector.
A thirteenth aspect is a semiconductor device formed by using the exposure substrate according to the first aspect.
A fourteenth aspect is a semiconductor device formed by using the exposure apparatus according to the twelfth aspect.
According to the method and apparatus for reading information on the exposure substrate and the exposure apparatus, and the method for production of a semiconductor device using these, since the information related to the readout operation is read and it is judged whether a next mark is to be read or not based on the information. Therefore, if there is another mark to be read, the next mark will be automatically read, and it becomes possible to perform readout of only the necessary marks and complete the readout operation, even if the number of the marks is optional.
According to the exposure substrate of the present invention, since the information related to the mark readout operation is included in at least one of the marks expressing the information related to the substrate, information related to the other marks can be obtained from one mark, and an optional number of marks can be automatically read. As a result, a setting load of an operator can be reduced, and occurrence of damage due to operational errors can be prevented. Moreover, since marks can be arranged for each substrate, with the minimum number of segments, processing time required for reading the marks can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, since marks can be arranged with the minimum number of segments, the space on the substrate can be effectively utilized.
According to the exposure substrate of the second aspect, since the substrate is an original plate on which a pattern for exposure is formed, even with an original plate such as a reticle, a mask or the like, an optional number of marks can be automatically read.
According to the exposure substrate of the third aspect, since the information related to the mark readout operation includes information related to whether or not there is a mark to be read next, if there is no mark to be read next, unnecessary readout operations can be automatically reduced. Therefore, the processing time can be shortened.
According to the exposure substrate of the fourth aspect, since the information related to the mark readout operation includes at least one of; the number, the position, the order of reading of the marks, and end of information to be read, information related to a mark necessary for readout is automatically read. Therefore, the readout operation for each mark can be reliably performed automatically and effectively.
According to the exposure substrate of the fifth and sixth aspect, the mark is formed as a bar code, and the information related to the mark readout operation is represented by a symbol of symbols expressed by the bar code, which is different from symbols expressing the information related to the substrate. Therefore it can be easily determined if information is that of the readout operation or not, by recognizing if there is a special symbol or not at the time of reading the mark.
According to the information reading method of the seventh to the tenth aspects, the reading apparatus of the eleventh aspect, the exposure apparatus of the twelfth aspect and the semiconductor device of the thirteenth and fourteenth aspects, the information related to the readout operation is read, and based on the information, it is judged whether the next mark is to be read or not. Therefore if there is another mark which must be read, the next readout is automatically performed, and even if the number of marks is optional, unnecessary readout of marks can be avoided enabling efficient reading of the necessary marks. Moreover, the processing time required for transporting the substrate and recognition thereof in the exposure step or the like can be reduced.